Rickshaw-puller arrested for raping 77-year-old woman in Delhi

A 22-year-old rickshaw-puller was arrested in outer Delhi for allegedly raping an elderly woman after beating her up while ferrying her to her residence, police said today.

Bhola, hailing from Madhya Pradesh, was arrested last night following interrogation of around 100 rickshaw pullers after the incident was reported from near KN Katju Marg police station on Saturday, a senior police officer said.

The rape of the 77-year-old woman had exposed chinks in police's claim of the capital being safe for women.

The incident came to light yesterday morning after a passerby found the victim in a badly bruised condition.

The victim had gone to her sister's residence in Rohini Sector 15 on Friday afternoon and the incident took place when she was returning home in a cycle rickshaw that night.

"Usually the sister used to accompany her. However, yesterday the victim was alone and struck a deal with a rickshaw puller for Rs 25 for ferrying her to Sector 7 in Rohini," the officer said.

However, he said, the rickshaw puller took a different route than the usual one she used to take and took her to the Japanese Park area.

The officer said the victim's family had claimed that the rickshaw puller suddenly overturned the rickshaw and picked up an argument with her.

The victim then offered more money and asked him to take her home faster. However, he said, he allegedly attacked her with a brick, made her smell some chemicals following which she became semi-conscious and then he raped her.

The victim has two sons who started searching for her around 9:30 pm after she did not reach home. "The two sons thought she was with the other one. They approached police in night," the officer said.

This incident came seven days after a young girl was shot dead outside her college by an alleged stalker and an 83-year-old woman strangled by two youths during a robbery at her house.

Around 40 rape cases were reported in the capital this year so far. The city has witnessed a sharp increase in rape and molestation cases last year since 2007.

In 2010, the city witnessed 489 rape incidents, including the infamous Dhaula Kuan rape and Mongolpuri, as against 2009's 459. The figures for 2006 was 609 followed by a drop to 581 next year while in 2008 it further dipped to 466.

Almost similar was the case with molestation cases in the capital in these years but it showed an increase this year to 585 from last year's 532. While 2008 had 597 cases, there were 835 incidents in 2007 wand 713 in 609. In over 90% of such cases, the accused were known to victims.